Get excited: the 2018 Hair Expo Awards are now open!

We are once again ready to celebrate the best talent in Australia and New Zealand, with entries now open for the 2018 Hair Expo Awards, the hairdressing industry’s most coveted accolade.

The longest-standing hair industry awards in Australia reward outstanding creativity and business proficiency – the complete picture of what exceptional hairdressing is.

“We encourage all hair professionals looking to challenge themselves and boost their careers to enter the awards this year” says Elli Julia, Awards Manager. “These awards offer an opportunity like no other to have your work assessed by some of the most iconic figures in the international hair industry, and the benefits that can be gained from entering will do wonders for your personal and professional development”, said Elli.
“We would also like to acknowledge the support our awards receive from the many leading brands in the industry that support their artists to enter the Hair Expo Awards and celebrate them at our awards gala each year, which is something we are very appreciative of,” concluded Elli.

In case you missed it: 2018 Hair Expo Awards changes

Changes to this year’s Hair Expo Awards include the appointment of prominent business coach, Julie Piantadosi, to the role of Head Judge and Awards Ambassador. Julie will lend her support to the judging panel and awards entrants throughout the submission process and will act as a sounding board to ensure individual category criteria are met by entrants and judged to the highest possible standard.

“I encourage every single salon business and hairstylist of all levels to take some time to enter these prestigious awards and showcase your talent and craft to the country. Entering the Hair Expo Awards will push you and challenge you to be the very best you can. The only way to win is to enter. These awards are so exciting!” said Julie.

Other changes to the 2018 Hair Expo Awards include the addition of business experts from outside the hair industry added to the judging panel to weigh in on the written submissions. These experts will represent outstanding business experience within their respective fields and will be selected by Julie.

Hair Expo will also arrange for an independent review by a professionally qualified third party who will supervise the final judging scores, and conduct spot auditing of all entries to the 2018 awards.

Local judges selected

From a 24-strong pool of iconic industry heavyweights and previous award winners, Julie Piantadosi has randomly selected the 10 local judges for the 2018 panel. They are as follows:

International experts will be selected in the coming months to complete the total panel of 20 hairdressing judges. The 2017 pool included renowned names like Tabatha Coffey, Edward Darley, Peter Gray, Angelo Seminara, Eugene Souleiman and Guy Tang.

Awards weighting remains unchanged

Weighting for the awards remains unchanged, with 50 per cent of an entry’s overall score assigned to the photographic collection, and 50 per cent assigned to the written business submission for creative categories.

CREATIVE CATEGORIES 2018

• Apprentice Student of the Year
• Australian Hairdresser of the Year
• Best Salon Design
• Colour Technician of the Year
• Men’s Hairdresser/Barber of the Year
• New Creative Force
• New Zealand Hairdresser of the Year
• NSW-ACT Hairdresser of the Year
• QLD Hairdresser of the Year
• Salon Team of the Year
• SA-TAS Hairdresser of the Year
• Session Stylist of the Year
• VICTORIAN Hairdresser of the Year
• WA-NT Hairdresser of the Year

BUSINESS CATEGORIES 2018

• Education Business of the Year
• Educator of the Year
• Industry Business Performance of the Year
• Salon Business of the Year

ADDITIONAL CATEGORIES 2018

• Hall of Fame (by peer nomination, final decision made by Hair Expo)

If you’re thinking about entering 2018 Hair Expo Awards, make sure you familiarise yourself with this year’s category criteria.

The entry period will close at 5:00pm on Wednesday 4 April 2018 with finalists announced in early May. Entries can be submitted via our online platform.

Go for the gold! We can’t wait to celebrate our talented industry in 2018.